pete's training journal

pete · June 24, 2003, 9:44pm

I am delaying going to the weightroom again for a week of bodyweight exercises. Good advice is messing up my schedule! :mad:
I have started my summer job as a camp counselor. It is EXHAUSTING chasing kids around all day. I have to take coconut oil before training to get my energy up. My grandmother died so we’re going down to Atlanta on Wednesday for the funeral. I don’t know how this will play out training wise.

Tuesday, June 25, 2003
-SPEED! 330 from standing, 330 from prone. At least five minutes in between each. 3 by 3*3 hurdle hops. These were on the second lowest setting for hurdles, pretty close. I didn’t want to go higher than that because I thought it might break the 30 inch rule. I would do the three walk back, do three walk, do three and then take about 2-3 min. between sets. I also did some barefoot power skips.
-After this, I did three sets with no rest of a circuit consisting of ten jumps reaching up for something, ten pushups, 20 v-sits, and 10 floppy fish on each side. This was actually pretty hard by the end. Next speed session I think I’ll try to add another set after some rest.

Wednesday, June 26, 2003
-OFF (not by choice), but the same stretching as Saturday, June 22, 2003 except only two on hip flexors and no stretching on calves because I couldn’t stretch them in our hotel room.

Thursday, June 27, 2003
-Did not do extensive warmup or much in the warmup department.
-4*5m from a prone start up a small grass hill. These felt good.
-Tried to do a GPP circuit of:
jumprope
lunges
jumping jacks
abs (sort of like v-sit but only one leg at a time)
and then start over again, but when I was doing the lunges my right hamstring tightened up and felt like it was going to pull. I was worried that I had a timebomb in my hamstring because during the season this one really swelled up after a meet one day and because I sometimes feel some weirdness in it when I’m doing leg swings as part of my warmup. This same feeling had happened once before during lunges, but that was months ago during winter track.
-I did some jumping jacks and jumproping and went in.
-Hot bath.

Friday, June 28, 2003
-I went to this local place where they give 10 minutes massage for 15 bucks. I actually ended up getting about 15 minutes, almost completely on the right hamstring. The woman told me that I had tons of trigger points in the hamstring as she went up and down the leg, but that she was able to release all of them. She assured me that tempo would be fine today, and speed would be fine on Saturday. This was a real relief because it seems that I was right that it was just a matter of time before my hamstrings pulled if I continued like this.
-Tempo, 3 sets of 3*150. I think I lost some cardiovascular fitness during this week.
-Hot bath.
-Tiger balm (the stuff is awesome!) on the hamstring before I went to bed.
-Same stretching as Saturday, June 22, 2003.

Saturday, June 29, 2003
-Only 7 hours of sleep last night. The Italian Job sucks balls.
-Tiger balm seemed to have worked well.
-We were up in upper New York seeing my aunt’s first house so I had to run on a track that was almost as hard as ashphalt I couldn’t run with my spikes on. First extensive warmup with dynamic stretching (leg swings forward and sideways, shoulder rotations, ankle rotations) instead of static as usual on CNS days then…
This is a quote from Dan Fichter in the maximum velocity thread:
"I think something to think about as you train younger kids (high school) is the run up they use in a flying 20 meters or 30 meters. Even less experienced athletes fall apart during flying 30 meter runs. With HS kids we struggle with flying 30’s. Kids fall apart. We try to lengthen that as the season goes on. It’s amazing what they look like when trying to sprint that distance. I agree with Charlie that accelerations have to be kept to a minimum. I want accelerations in no way to impact top speed runs. Something I like to do to show kids that relaxation is key is to have then run gradually faster timed trials as they get warmed up. So, I throw a % out there. They run it, I give them a F.A.T time, and they gradually pick it up each run. What we see happening is when I tell them full speed, most of the time you see times get slower. When you say full speed to a younger kid they immediately tighten up. It’s a great teaching technique for them to feel that more relaxed is so much better than full speed tight! Each athlete will have a preferred run up. Each group of as athletes might need different max velocity work.
Just some thoughts "

Because of the recovery block and all the tapering in season I think I have to reteach myself how to relax a bit so I tried doing this over (approximately, I think a bit less) 30m. I ran my first at all out. I false started a bit but decelerated a bit at the end. I ran a 4.16.
Next I set a target time of 5.2.
I ran as relaxed as possible and ran a 4.68:mrt:
For the next run I set a target time of 4.6 and ran a 4.3
For the next I set a target of 4.2 and ran a 4.3
The last one I tried to run at all out and I ran a 4.10. No false start, no deceleration. So it was a slightly better time with an accurate timing system. More importantly though I think the relaxation would have carried me through the next 70m much better than on the first run because I was fighting less.
-Thanks for the idea Dan.
-Depletion pushups, 39, 10, 8.

Sunday, June 29, 2003
-Sleep last night was 1:00 AM to 10 AM. Not by choice.
-Curses, messed up dates again. Today is correct.
-Extensive warmup in backyard where the whole workout took place.
-Remedial tempo: trying to not really worry about mechanics and just relaxed
4*(6*15m) turning around when I reached the end of my yard and running the distance again. Seemed to work.
-200 sledgehammer pounds in sets of 25 with a longer break after the first 100. 70 to 75s between sets of 25, 2:30 after the hundred. The goal was to exert as little effort as possible.
-Full microstretching.

Monday, June 30, 2003
-I’m actually getting a good amount of GPP in just being a camp counselor. I played wall ball and basketball most of the day today.
-Extensive warmup. I’ve added running shoulder rotations into this which I really like. I’ve been doing this barefoot almost all the time including today.
-2120 at almost 100%. I was going to do the 3 of them at 95%, but I found that I was going near 100% for my first one so because of this combined with time constraints I only ran 2 and gave myself a 17-18 minute break instead of a 12 minute break in between each one.
-Went to the gym for the first time in a while. 310 full squats at 185, 210 unweighted dips 16 unweighted dips (only had at very most 2 reps left in the last one, hopefully when I go down to 38 I’ll be able to do all), 310 rowing machine on level 7.
-I do not know how my body will respond to this workout especially while being taxed all day by the kids. Hopefully it won’t be too bad.
-Full microsretching.

pete · July 1, 2003, 8:20pm

Let the lifting commence! Monday was the first day in my accumulation phase. My quads are killing me, but hopefully I’ll be able to adapt. A few weeks ago I got some Chuck Taylor’s so this was my first lifting session using them and I thought they worked well. Wednesday I have a sleepover where I’m working which means staying up until 4 A.M. and then a horribly uncomfortable night of sleep. Because of the first lifting session, the fact that camp is like a very demanding GPP session, and the lack of sleep on Wednesday I may have to do only two CNS days this week. I’ll decide by how I feel.

Tuesday, July 1, 2003
-Extensive warmup. The butt kicks hurt.
-Tempo, 10*150.

Wednesday, July 2, 2003
-Some sauna at the Y and 2 reps microstretching on quads, hams, glutes, and back but that’s it.

Thursday, July 3, 2003
-I got to sleep at 1:30 and rested (but did not sleep) on and off until around 11 while I was supposed to be watching my kids.
-I just went to the gym today because I felt like shit from the night. I really hope I didn’t get sick from it. Coconut oil, please help! At the gym I did box squatting with my new Chucks for the first time. And…chucks=the shit. I could really feel my posterior chain working a lot more than usual, and it really wasn’t hard to get the movement down. I think when I do deep squats I recruit my quads a lot because they’re stronger so I had to find out that I can barely box squat as much at an inch past paralell as I can squat all the way down. I’ll have to let my ego step aside a bit and really concentrate on using my posterior chain for deep squats. I started at 195 (10 pounds more than I had done my 310 at for deep squats this week) and did 110, then realized I would need to drop the weight to get the next 210. I went to 185 and did 110. Then on the 7th rep of the next set I messed up my motion coming off the box and had to sit back down. By this time I lost all my momentum and stretch reflex and the guy spotting me had to help me up. He was now worried that I wasn’t going to be able to do any more reps on my own so he started giving me the bear hug spot. This made it impossible for him not to assist me a little bit, so after the eighth rep I just racked the weight. I’m not sure if I would have come near failure on the eighth or ninth and have to rack it.
-Full microstretching plus Clemson’s pec minor stretch for holds of 20.

Friday, July 4, 2003
-I did not have quad soreness this morning, just glute and hamstring.
-Tempo: 35100m. This was my first time doing 100s instead of 150s. Damn this seemed like a long workout. I’m not sure whether I’ll keep the 100s or go back to 150s. I seem to have adopted to the heat which is nice. I really concentrated on posture on these tempo runs and I think my core got more work from these than I usually get from 3 tempo sessions! So I will definitely concentrate on core position from now on.
-As added ab work I’m going to try to build up to 200 sledgehammer hits on tempo and 100 hits on speed days. Today I did 100 hits after tempo. Same expend as little energy as possible cue.
-Hot bath, stayed in for 10 min.
-I felt the urge to do speed today, tomorrow’s going to be a hell of a session, I have to make sure I don’t overcook it.

Saturday, July 5, 2003
-Speed today and it was a fantastic session. I did my extensive warmup, including some hurdle mobility which I’m adding in on speed days for now and will soon be adding into the warmup for all days. My dad was timing me by blowing a whistle 30m away, but for some reason the stopwatch did not start on the first three times. On the second time he started yelling angrily when this happened and I stopped at 20m and the same thing happened for the third start, so so far in the workout I had done:
Warmup
30
20
20

(all speed from a standing start)

The fourth time I also ran from a standing start and the watch worked. I ran it in 4.27 (minus .12 for the sound to travel 30m to me=4.15 FAT) which made me very very happy. Next I ran a 30m from prone in 5.1 (it obviously took a long time to get up) and then set up my blocks and ran a 4.31 (again -.12) 30m. So this was basically the same as my standing and I figure that I was fatigued at least .1. I probably would have hit almost 4 flat FAT if I had done this at the time I did the standing start 30 in the workout. This is again very exciting. This was confirmed when I ran a standing start 30 after this in 4.47. I cooled down and left extremely content with the session. Total session was:
30
20
20
30
30
30
30
190m total
-Cold bath (feet elevated which made all the difference)
-Full microstretching

Sunday, July 6, 2003
-Instead of tempo I did 10*(15 sledgehammer hits, 5 pushups, 15 med-ball rotations, and 15 jumping jacks). I did not do my usual warmup because I was at home. This was definitely a mistake because it felt like I didn’t get the same workout.
-Full microstretching

Monday, July 7, 2003
-OFF. I didn’t get home until 6 from damn work and then I had to stay online in case Charlie went on. But the off day suited me well for Tuesday’s session.
-2 reps microstretching.

Timothy_Lane · July 1, 2003, 9:06pm

Pete how did the chucks workout, wore they worth a look?

pete · July 1, 2003, 9:46pm

I really liked how they felt just for regular squatting, but check back after Thursday because the main reason I bought them was for box squatting and that’s where I’m hoping they’ll really give an edge.

They’re very cheap which is nice.

Timothy_Lane · July 1, 2003, 9:48pm

Ok

pete · July 9, 2003, 5:18pm

Tuesday, July 8, 2003
-Fearing that I was still not completely recovered from Saturday’s workout I decided to not concentrate on going submax but just concentrate on running “smoothly” and very relaxed since I would be doing 30s again. I also wanted to do this because I was much tighter coming out of the blocks then coming out of a standing start on Saturday. I did six prone starts and they all felt great. Be it from the increased warmups, hot weather, addition of microstretching and other stretching to my routine, eating better (although that area still needs a lot of work), having gotten some 30s under my belt and planning well enough to recover from them, addition of sledgehammer for abs, or most likely a combination of these it seems like I’m flying every time I hit the track now. The 30s felt great. These lasted until 9:00 PM because I didn’t get over to the track until 7:40 because of work.
-Ice bath and it felt great again because of the elevated feet.
-Full microstretching.

Wednesday, July 9, 2003
-Extensive warmup (no hurdle mobility).
-34100. In between reps I did 15 medball rotations (whenever I say 15 medball rotations that means going 1 for right side, 1 for left side, and then I’m on the 2nd rep) at one end and 15 jumping jacks at the other. I really liked doing this! I think I’ll try to add these to most of my tempo workouts, building up to 15*100, which I actually would have probably been fine doing, but I just wanted to be on the safe side.
-100 sledgehammer hits.
-Full microstretching +1 rep for everything but calves.

Thursday, July 10, 2003
-Depletion pushups, 42, 13, 10.
-Microstretching, 2 reps each.

Friday, July 11, 2003
-It started raining just as I was about to do tempo which pissed me off to no end, but then it stopped and I was able to do it. After reading more about GPP I’ve decided that I really need extra GPP work, so what I will do is stretch my accumulation phase out to 5 or 6 weeks (when this week ends it will be the second) because I’m not getting to go to the gym all that much anyway. After this I will reevaluate my periodization plan and see what needs to be abbreviated.
-I did 300s today (or close to 300, they were actually about 325) because of the fantastic posts by Dazed and others in this thread:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2506
I did 6325, each in about 100 seconds. Posture was good and the last one was the easiest, but this is way too slow, especially since I gave myself two minutes rest between each instead of 1-1:30. I will try to follow this progression for these:
Raise the intensity to 60-65% (1:16-1:23) NOTE:I’m figuring a 325 would be around 50 seconds for me right now. It might be a little higher since I’m doing no endurance training to allow me to do a decent 325 time, but then again less than 65% would be acceptable so it all evens out.
Lower the rest to 1:30
Increase the reps, eventually to 9325
I did 150 medicine ball tosses with my dad (150 apiece not combined). 50 tossing from the right side, 50 tossing from the left side, and 50 tossing up in a front medicine ball style. This was a good bridge, next time I will up my sledgehammering to 150 reps and to 75 on CNS days.
-Full microstretching.
-The thread that makes my day that much better:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1662&highlight=over+active+imagination

Saturday, July 12, 2003
-Extensive warmup.
-I was going to do 1215m today, but I only had time to do 1015m. I did the first six from a standing start, all timed. They ranged from 2.49-2.64 (-.06=2.43-258 FAT). My last timed one was my fastest which was good. Then I did 2 prone start 15s which felt good, but were not timed. I did another prone start, but from lying on my back instead of the nose touching the ground as I’ve always done. I didn’t like this. I did my last prone start starting with nose on the ground and the medicine ball held in my outstretched hands in front of my face. On the sound of the gun (played in my head) I got up and tried to throw the medicine ball and chase after it. Its sort of like a combination of the traditional medball start and a prone start. I really liked this and think I will start doing it often. All runs were with 4-4:30 minutes rest except after the fifth standing start I gave myself a six minute rest.
-I did seven explosive medicine ball throws, the first two concentric only. On all seven I alternated between front overhead toss and backwards overhead toss. The seventh didn’t go as far as the others so I called it quits. I gave 2 minutes of rest in between each.
-75 sledgehammer hits (25 right side, 25 left side, then a set of 13 left, 12 right.
-Full microstretching.

Sunday, July 13, 2003
-Tempo, 25100, 13100, 12100 (I ate a lot before 2 hours before I ran so I had to go to the bathroom mid session) with 6 pushups at one end and 15 jumping jacks at the other. I found this signifigantly harder than when I did 15 j.j. at one end and 15 medball rotations at the other.

Monday, Jully 14, 2003
-The first day back at work after the weekend really drains energy. I find that I need this as an off day. Hopefully I won’t need any more this week.

pete · July 16, 2003, 5:22pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2003
-I did 4120 with 12 minutes rest in between at 95%. The 12 minutes rest was a change because I usually give myself 18 minutes between these, even at 95%. My last one probably could have only been at around 96-97% if I was going all out because of this, so I’m not sure if it was right. I will start a thread on it later to ask people there opinion. I’m going to start doing some speed endurance fairly soon so I thought this might help a bit.
-I did six jumps over the high jump bar box jump style. It was at 46". I missed the last two (the last one I hit with my butt) but I think that was because I was just walking back and then jumping again.
-I went to the gym and did 15 bar, 15 95, 35 105 trying to reteach myself cleans. I think this went pretty well, they felt good. I did 310 bench at 95 with ease and 310 lat pulldowns at 90 also easily. This makes sense. In addition I did 3*10 hypers with 25# (so I don’t crack the whip).
-I finished the forum review today and thought it was brilliant. Its influences should be showing up in my training.
-Ice bath for recovery after the gym session.
-Full microstretching.

Wednesday, July 16, 2003
-600, 500, 425, 300, 200, 100
3:01, 2:12, 1:56, 1:32, 56, 27

I’m okay with these times. I gave myself two minute rest periods, so I’ll try to cut back on that before I move the intensity up.
-Contrast shower.
-Full microstretching.

Thursday, July 18, 2003
-24200m. They were in 36-37 with a 45s rest, so assuming that I could only run about a 27 now on grass since I am in no way training endurance for 200 thats about 75%. This would be very good, but I think the runs may have only been around 175m. Next time I will go over to the track so I can get a better idea.
-I really didn’t feel like doing sledgehammer so I did:
3*(20 medball rotations, 15 v-sits, 20 jumping jacks, 20 lifts of the medball in the same motion as if I were going to throw it overhead, and 30 reps of sort of bizzarro jumping jacks, switching legs in front of me, I read about these somewhere in T-mag and forget what they’re called) done continuously.

Friday, July 19, 2003
-A little bit of an abbreviated warmup and then 3*30m on grass in spikes. I had to do my workout at work on this day because immediately after camp I went to my friend’s house for the weekend. I really should have trained Monday, its only going to be 4 days this week, but I didn’t plan it out until after that. Hopefully it won’t hurt me too much.
-On Friday I slept from 4:00 AM to 10:17 AM. Ouch, that hurt.
-1 rep microstretching.

Saturday, July 19, 2003
-OFF
-Not as bad: 1:30 to around 9:30.

Sunday, July 20, 2003
-OFF, went to bed at 11:30 at home because I got home late and then went out to dinner with my dad. Hopefully tomorrow I can sleep well.
Sunday, July

Monday, July 21, 2003
-I had my coconut oil before tempo instead of after and that didn’t sit to well. I was going well at a much improved 1:25 pace with 1:45 rest (the thing to work on first now) for 4*300 and then at about 100m my stomach just gave in and I had to quit.
-3 or 4 reps microstretching, I can’t remember.

Tuesday+Wednesday, July 22+23, 2003
-Both of these days I was not able to train for personal reasons. The nice thing is on Tuesday I rollerskated in camp for about 45 minutes and on Wednesday I got about an hour of fairly intense exercise. Since I’m in the GPP anyway this makes me less worried about having to take time off.

reps microstretching on both days.

Thursday, July 24, 2003
-I did 13*15m from a standing start on grass (by choice) in spikes today really concentrating on the slow exhalation after inhaling for set and pumping the arms violently. I think I managed to stay fairly relaxed which is good. Until now I’ve been doing all the sprints on track, but I’m going to start doing a lot on grass now.
-Full microstretching

Friday, July 25, 2003
-600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 110
2:20,1:56,1:24,1:03,39,23
These are excellent times. I may have been running a little too hard, but that’s fine right now. The rest periods were 1:50. If I can get those down to 1:00 with these times and do it pretty easily I’ll be at a great level of fitness. I was planning on doing 30s tomorrow, but I might not be able to until Sunday because of this. Doesn’t matter the point of this phase is to get fit as hell and I’m doing it.
-Sauna afterwards for 15 minutes, followed by a quick cold shower. It felt great!!! Maybe I will be able to do speed tomorrow.

Saturday, July 26, 2003
-As much as I hate to admit it, today was definitely intensive tempo. I did 6300, all in less than 65s with 45s in between. This is all I could ever hope for in an extensive tempo session, but unfortuneately it wasn’t really one (I ran my last 300 at very near all out and completed it in 57s, oops; the distance may have been a little shorter for that one because I wanted to finish and I wasn’t on a track). I’m fine with this though because is now I’m at the point where I want to be and I can just repeat the workout until its a tempo session.
-I did 6(3 minutes in the hot whirlpool at 99 degrees, contrasted with 1 minute in the “cold” whirlpool at 85 degrees). We were at a hotel in Springfield because my dad was running a masters track meet, the car ride up was split into 2 1/2 hours on Friday and 2 hours on Saturday. This may have negated the recovery.

Sunday, July 27, 2003
-OFF, but I did sauna for 15 minutes at 180 degrees (!) contrasting after the first 5 minutes with a cold shower for a minute and then jumping in the pool for about a minute and a half at the end. We drove 4 1/2 hours and then I came back and did a 1 1/2 hour driving lesson on the highway which stressed me so much I was soaked in sweat. So much for being well recovered! As I sit here I’m very groggy from not moving much today.

Monday, July 28, 2003
-Extensive warmup (I’m doing these even if I forget to mention it sometimes).
-10*30, first 5 from prone, next 3 from standing, next 2 from 3 point. Because I think I can apply the feel from the standing and 3 points to the prone sprints I think I should do them last in the workout.
-Recovery drink, about 2 ounces whey and an ounce raw honey (I always use this post workout, but I almost never mention it).

pete · July 17, 2003, 8:49pm

First I’d like to do a reprint of my periodization plan in here since that thread has been deleted, so here it is:

"Almost 17 (in September)
I’ve only been sprint training for probably around half a year, when I found this board.
My best 100m time was an 11.6h. I ran winter track this year also, which I will not do again as it was a disaster, and I only got to do two 55s. During one I slipped really badly at the beginning so the time doesn’t tell much, but it was a 7.5 FAT. The other was a 7 flat handtime. I was running all by myself. I ran these without spikes or blocks and on crappy indoor tracks.

I know this is a lot to read, but any help would be greatly appreciated, even if you just skim it. So without further ado this is what I’m thinking for periodization until next April:

2 week recovery phase. Tempo 4 times during this period (1200m) and some wrestling, touch football, and basketball.

3 week Accumulation/hypertrophy/GPP phase. The speed work will be all 30s or shorter. I’m looking to gain about five pounds which I think will be easy if I just eat more. I’m going to try to gradually bump tempo back up to around 1800m and do some sledgehammer and ab work. The weightroom scheme will go: Week 1: 310, week 2: 38, week 3: 3*6. I will do three weightroom sessions a week after speed as usual, fairly light even considering the high reps. The third session will be higher rep than usual O lifting, but not as high as the rep schemes for the other exercises.
The exercises will be full squat, box squat, and O lifts for squat-type exercise. Bench, incline bench, and dips for bench-type exercise. Weighted chinups, lat-pulldown, and O lifts as lat-pulldown type exercise.

Max strength phase, 3/1/3:
It will be all 30s or shorter for the first 3 weeks and all 40s or shorter for the rest of the phase.
The weightroom scheme will go like this: 1st week: 35, 2nd week: 5,4,3, 3rd week: 33, 4th week:just 3 reps, 5th week:3,2,1, 6th week:32, 7th week: 31. These will be at near max for the reps allotted. I will try to do it so that I’m confident I won’t fail for any of the reps, but they do feel hard to complete.

6 week Maintenance phase:
40m or under for this entire phase. Weights based on Pioneer’s awesome formulas.
Do you guys think that during this phase I should try to do some tapering and fake meets racing for 30m at the end of the week? Or should I just do 30s and 40s in regular volume all week?

Max Strength 3/1/3:
For the first three weeks I’ll be doing all 40s and under. Then for the next 4 weeks I’ll stretch it out to 50s and under.
The weight room work will be the same as for the other max strength phase, hopefully with higher numbers. Reprinted:
1st week: 35, 2nd week: 5,4,3, 3rd week: 33, 4th week:just 3 reps, 5th week:3,2,1, 6th week:32, 7th week: 31. These will be at near max for the reps allotted. I will try to do it so that I’m confident I won’t fail for any of the reps, but they do feel hard to complete.

6 week maintenance phase:
This will be all 50s or below. For this one I’m planning on having fake meets, but maybe without that much taper (i.e. Monday a little less than regular volume of speed work probably mostly work under 50m, Wednesday just enough for a little stimulation and then Saturday fake competition for 50m).

Max Strength 3/1/3:
At this point there will be about 16 weeks left until the season begins. For the first week in this I’ll stay with 50s and under. Then for the next 4 weeks I’ll start doing top speed work as well, starting with low volume since the speed change runs are apparently very hard on the CNS.
Same set/rep scheme as before reprinted here:
1st week: 35, 2nd week: 5,4,3, 3rd week: 33, 4th week:just 3 reps, 5th week:3,2,1, 6th week:32, 7th week: 31. These will be at near max for the reps allotted. I will try to do it so that I’m confident I won’t fail for any of the reps, but they do feel hard to complete.

6 week maintenance phase:
For the first 2 weeks I’ll work on top speed work and 50 or under acceleration. Then for the next 4 weeks, 1 CNS day will be speed endurance, 1 CNS day will be top speed work, and 1 CNS day will be acceleration (50m or under work).
Pioneer weight formulas.

3 wk. Max Strength phase:
Same thing as last four weeks: 1 CNS day will be speed endurance, 1 CNS day will be top speed work, and 1 CNS day will be acceleration (50m or under work).
I’m not exactly sure how the set/rep formulas will work I’ll work that out when this phase comes.

Competition will start the next week and I’ll do tapering and maintenance weights throughout competition. I may have as much as eight meets or more in competition. Do you guys think that because of this I should maybe cut back on the maintenance phase preceding the last max strength phase and add some weeks to the max strength phase? "

What has happeneed thus far is that my recovery block ended up being 3 weeks instead of 2, now I’m three weeks into GPP, but my definition of GPP changes on an almost daily basis. I’m going to do another 4 weeks at least, with almost all of the sprint work on grass (something I just learned I should be doing during this period) and all tempo on grass. Here are my goals by the end of the GPP phase:

Low-intensity goals:
Be able to complete a 6,5,4,3,2,1 breakdown with a slightly higher intensity then I did in the workout I posted on Wednesday and cutting the rest time in half from 2 to 1 minute. Obviously this goal must be reached while doing the workout with relative ease, finishing at the same pace I started.
Be able to complete a workout of 6325 in 70 seconds apiece or less with a one minute break in between (assuming I could complete a 45s 300)
Be able to complete a workout of 24200 with each run at 36-37s with 45s in between (assuming with my lack of any endurance for 200 that I would be able to complete a 200 in 27s)
Be able to complete a workout of 35*100 with each run at 16.5 (assuming right now with my lack of speed endurance in this phase I would be able to complete a 12.3 100m on grass)
Build up to 200 sledgehammer hits post-workout on tempo days and 100 on speed days
Add a jogged lap to my warmup (I will edit this post later and type up the warmup I have standardized for reference)
Work on good posture and relaxation during tempo runs and completely master the drills in my warmup.

High-intensity goals
Reteach myself cleaning and snatching and teach myself box squatting. Setting realistic weights for myself so that I can do exercises right without cheating.
Improve 15 and 30 time at least by a small amount for right now.

If you’ve gotten to this point please feel free to comment.

pete · July 29, 2003, 10:33pm

Tuesday, July 29, 2003
-I played in a 45 minute basketball game this morning. Because this was pretty high-intensity and because I’d like to do tempo where I work so I can use the sauna afterwards which I can’t do until tomorrow I decided to do special endurance (my first session of the season) today. The first one was a 280m total split run, probably at around 120-130+100-110+50 with the plus denoting a 50m walk. It was in around 37s. The second one was 10m shorter by accident. I gave myself a 28-29 minute rest after the first one, but the second one was still not as good. I slipped and almost landed on my face during one part of it and messed up stopping it at the end but I think that it was about 39.5-40s. I think the slip and the missing 10m sort of cancel each other out, but maybe it would have been 40.5 if I hadn’t slipped and ran the whole thing. Anyway, I guess I have to give myself about a 35 minute break.
-I keep forgetting to do sledgehammer. Aargh.
-Full microstretching.

Wednesday, July 30, 2003
-24200 (200m walk in between sets) with a 45s (at longest) rest in between reps. I did them in >35s, some a fair amount less which even if I think I could run 200m on grass in flats in 26s, which is extremely unrealistic, is still pushing the tempo limit (26/.75=34.6). It was fairly hard, but I really wasn’t dying at the end. I should lower the intensity just a tiny bit and then after about 2 more sessions of these I think it will be really easy. I feel like I’m really in pretty good shape.
-Sauna, for about 25 minutes with a shower at 10 minutes.
-Full microstretching.

Thursday, July 31, 2003
-OFF
-Hot tub.
-2 reps microstretching

Friday, August 1, 2003
-Before working out I did the sauna for about 15 minutes and the hot tub for 5 minutes, jump in the pool for a minute, 5 minutes jump in the pool for a minute.
-I didn’t have much time at the track so I couldn’t do a warmup. Because of this I decided I wanted to get in as much quantity as possible so I did 3600 then a 5 minute break and 2600. Rest times were 1:30-1:35 between reps. Reps were in around 2:25. This shows great cardiovascular improvement.

Saturday, August 2, 2003
-We drove up to Rhode Island for vacation. I did a speed session after the 4 hour drive. I did it on the track because I wanted my dad to time me.
-First I did 240 yd. dash in 5.05 & 5.08 from first movement. The grass was like running on a wrestling mat though, great for tempo, but not for speed work. So I figure on artificial turf it would have been around 4.75. This is still surprisingly bad, but by the time I work out to 40m for a while I’m positive it will be down to around 4.5 or lower which would be a pretty exciting time.
-The rest of the session was fantastic. I ran 35*15m, these on the track because of the bad for running grass and because my dad could time the first 4. They were 2.48, 2.68 (bad reaction), 2.45 (bit of a false start), and 2.36! To make the times electronic equivalent 0.06 must be subtracted because my dad was yelling GO! fifteen meters away.
-2 reps microstretching.

Sunday, August 3, 2003
-I got a case of 18 GO! recovery drinks, probably the only case I’ll get because of the price, but forgot to bring one on the trip. On Saturday night we went to a really nice restaurant where I got food poisoning. I threw up my entire meal. This meant I had no nourishment at all after my extremely demanding speed session. To top it off I barely slept. So I walked around all day extremely sore and in a daze, feeling like crap. I see it as a completely missing day, no recovery was really accomplished and when I woke up Monday morning I think I was in about as good shape recovery-wise as I would have been Sunday if I hadn’t gotten food poisoning.
-Full microstretching.

Monday, August 4, 2003
-We drove an hour up to visit Wheaton college.
-Afterwards I ran 35100m, the first set in 17…, the last two all in 16… It wasn’t hard at all, which means I’ve reached my LI goal for 100m tempo. Yeah! Since the extensive warmup I do on tempo days involves a full microstretching rep interspersed in it I don’t really get as warmed up as on a speed day, evidenced by the 17 second first set. I don’t think this is really a problem though.

Tuesday, August 5, 2003
-We were busy all day and I didn’t get a chance to train.

Wednesday, August 6, 2003
-We came back today, which means a 4 hour car ride.
-Then I did 23300m tempo, all in about 1:05-1:08 with 45-50s breaks in between reps and a 300m walk in between sets. I meant to do all six without a break but I would have accumulated too much lactic acid this way. As it was I still had a bit accumulation during the last one, sort of like I was finishing a 90% 300m run from fresh. I’m not sure if this is acceptable and that if I can do it without the break in between I will have met my low-intensity goal. If I do speed tomorrow that will help me decide.

Thursday, August 7, 2003
-OFF

Friday, August 8, 2003
-I really thought I was going to be able to train today but I basically couldn’t. I did manage to do 6*20 BW squats then 20 lunges following each other.

Saturday, August 9, 2003
-Fck that made me sore. I did 4250, then 2500, then 2250 not timed. It felt pretty easy, it was probably around 72-73%

Sunday, August 10, 2003
-My dad strained his back a little and I was counting on doing medball with him. I had to do it with my mom who got tired after 10 minutes. So I estimate we each did about 200 throws. I was hoping for around 800. Damn, damn, damn. I was still sore as hell.

Monday, August 11, 2003
-Surprise, surprise I didn’t get to train today because of a show the campers were putting on that I had to come home before and then go right back for. And I have a camp sleepover tomorrow. Fantastic. Almost completely recovered soreness wise.

Tuesday, August 12, 2003
-Couldn’t train because of overnight.
-I did 2 reps microstretching tonight, most of these other days that I’ve been not putting it I’ve beeing doing 2 or 3, always 3 on a training day.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003
-6,5,4,3,2,12:10,1:40,1:20,1:05,40,16One minute rests except between the 3 and 2 I gave myself 40s and between 2 and 1 30s.
-I’m ridiculously exhausted. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 last night. I sort of slept until 11:30.
-This workout was exciting though. It proved to me that I’m in good enough shape to move the focus of my GPP from getting into very good tempo shape to bodyweight exercises, circuits, and the like.

Thursday, August 14, 2003
-Couldn’t train.

Friday, August 15, 2003
-I played in a 50 minute basketball game in the morning and then when I got home I did 23360-380m. The beginning ones were in 1:10 but the last one was in a minute and one second. It didn’t even feel hard. I tossed the medball around for 10 minutes with my dad (I assume around 200 throws each)

Saturday, August 16, 2003
-Couldn’t train.

Sunday, August 17, 2003
-I went for a three mile bike ride in the morning
-930m speed. It was on grass and it was sort of rainy out but the recorded times were 4.77, 4.66, 4.63. The first two had sort of delayed reactions to the whistle because I hadn’t done speed in so long, the third one was a good reaction but not as good a run. These were actually 3rd, 4th, and 6th runs. My early acceleration is like french wine. All times are minus .12 seconds to get FAT because my dad was blowing the whistle 30m away.
-Because I didn’t get to train Saturday I followed this with 8170m tempo.
-I sort of like these days with doing a load of stuff because it feels like I guess a GPP should, really building up general fitness.

Monday, August 18, 2003
-I managed to do 8*(20 BW squats followed by 20 BW lunges) in a row and then 2*the same after a 60 second rest. I think it may have been the hardest workout of my life, I was quaking all over. I drank GO! afterwards and stretched a lot so hopefully I won’t be as sore as last time but this time I think I worked even harder. I also did 50 swings of the sledgehammer sort of golf style, but since I only did the first 25 before the main workout I was way too tired to do more after I did the next 25 and I probably would have been endangering my feet. Clemson is a sadistic man, I can’t even imagine doing the squat/lunge workout for a full track lap, this was probably only about half of that. But I guess that’s what a high level of general fitness means and I’ve got some hard work coming.

pete · August 19, 2003, 11:48pm

Tuesday, August 19, 2003
-2500,2400,2*300. One minute break in between all. This was surprisingly hard. It was a really annoying track infield with crap cluttered all over the place so that I had to keep dodging it. I only timed my 2nd 400 which was 1:32. Considering that I had to keep weaving and dodging and that because of this it was probably a little over 400 this was not bad or too unexpected.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003
-OFF

Thursday, August 21, 2003
-My eight year old cousin came over to run with me (he obviously did a different workout although he is pretty fast) so I didn’t do a warmup, but I did 10*200.

Friday, August 22, 2003
-Today I was just screwing around running with my cousin again so again no warmup. I was planning on doing speed today afterwards but I realized I could get my dad to time me if I held off until tomorrow so that’s what I’ll do. Anyway, I did 3 400s in 1:21, 1:14, 1:12 (well, I guess it was a bit less than 400). I also did a couple other runs so the volume totaled up to 1600 or a bit more.

Saturday, August 23, 2003
-OFF

pete · August 24, 2003, 8:53pm

Sunday, August 24, 2003
-I did 10*30 today. The third and fourth (first and second timed) were in 4.6 and 4.5 but everything else was 4.4 and under except the 10th which was 4.54 because I was tired. Anyway, I PBed at 4.19 (equivalent to 4.07 FAT for minus .12 for my dad standing 30m away) because I did these on the track. I could be doing better though and I definitely need to make sure I’m training at least five times a week (it got a little crazy with going down to the shore and work and everything). I would like to be able to do one 15 or 30m speed session a week like I’ve been doing plus one with about six or seven 30s or 10 15s and then split runs. I could even do circuit training or GPP weights after that. Still, this is a very good time, and I’m doing it from standing. Clemson’s flexibility manual is coming soon so I expect to see some great time improvements when I get that.
-Afterwards I did:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?p=28925#post28925

Monday, August 25, 2003
-6*(50 sledgehammer hits, 50 side to side w/ medball counting each side as a rep, 10 pushups, 40 bicycles, 100 jump rope reps (probably about 50 seconds), 2*10m Running As at slower than walking distance, 50 jumps switching legs in front of me with hands held stationary) done with no breaks. It was a good workout. I tried to make it light enough that I could do split runs and speed tomorrow, but I don’t know if it will be. There was no warmup today.

Tuesday, August 26, 2003
-I’m doing a new warmup these days and this is how it goes for speed:
250m jog
240m A-skips
50 jumping jacks
30 bicycles (will do 50 really soon)
240m running arm rotations one way and then the other coming back
50 switching legs in front of me
30 bicycles (same)
220m A-runs
2150m tempo
220m stiff-legged bounds
210m b-skips (accelerating leg downward after A)
220m butt kicks
120m skips for height
120m alternate leg bounds (these two are around 90% effort)
220m @ 80%
220m @85%
120m @95%

It sounds like a lot but it only takes about 20 minutes since its done continuously. It gets a nice sweat going. I give myself eight minutes rest after the warmup before I start the workout. I’ll post tempo next time I do one for tempo.

-1215m, six from standing and six from prone in that order on grass. 3:05-3:30 rests. Then 10 minute rest.
-3100m split runs. I was not at a track, but these had to be at least 100m, maybe more, I’m sure of it. I did self-timing and got under 13.2 for each. After all the short acceleration runs it felt like I was flying.

Wednesday, August 27, 2003
-Strange stuff today. First I did my new warmup which goes like this for tempo days:
250m jog
240m A-skips
50 jumping jacks
40 bicycles (will do 50 really soon)
Calf stretches for 60 second holds
240m running arm rotations one way and then the other coming back
50 switching legs in front of me
40 bicycles (same)
Chest stretch for 60 second hold
Back stretches for 60 second holds
220m A-runs
Glute stretches for 60 second holds
Serpentine (drill from my track coach, jogging while weaving to open up the hips)
Microstretching inner abductors stretch for 60 seconds
220m stiff-legged bounds
Hamstring stretch for 60 seconds
Psoas stretches for 60 seconds
2*20m butt kicks
Quad stretch for 60 seconds

-Afterwards I was planning on doing 5400 with 16 lunges and 16 reverse lunges, then 4(10 hops forward 10 hops sideways 10 backwards 10 sideways to make a square) and then give myself 40 second rests after the runs. Well from the beginning I knew that I was going to only do 1 set of the hops after the lunges and that the lunges would be hard to complete. Well what ended up happening is I ended up doing the first 3 sets as described (with only one set of hops) and then after the fourth I could only do 10 and 10 lunges + reverse and after I did my last 400 I just couldn’t do anymore. For the last 3 I think I had probably gone down to about 65%. It was a surpisingly brutal workout. The reverse lunges were really killers. I think I might stick with forward because I think they pretty much cover everything.

Thursday, August 28, 2003
-Tempo warmup.
-24200 with a 200m walk in between sets and a 20 lunge recovery in between reps! So we (my dad and I) did one 200, 20 lunges, no break,200, etc. This was a very hard workout, but the 20 lunge 20 squat workout I did last week (I think) was still the hardest workout I’ve done. I was probably running the 200s at a little above 65%.
-I drank my GO! afterwards.

Friday, August 29, 2003
-OFF

pete · August 30, 2003, 5:31pm

Saturday, August 30, 2003
-Sprint day warmup.
-14*15m on the track, same thing I had my dad timing from 15m away so minus .06 for FAT. I ran all under 2.6 and a handful under 2.45. I got one at 2.36 which tied my PB from August 2nd. So I seemed to have stagnated on time since them, but I am not worried about this because:
a.)my GF has greatly greatly improved which will allow me to do lots of work in the future and recovery well from it to increase my times. The fact that I’ve maintained speed in the GPP is a pretty good accomplishment in itself I think. Besides, I’ve been mostly doing 1 speed session a week, which I’m now moving up to 2, providing I can get 5 or 6 sessions in. I should see small improvements from this and the special endurance preparation I’m doing a long with these days plus the other points.
b.)When Clemson’s flexibility manual comes out I will revamp my flexibility program, because right now I’m really not doing much (see NOTE below) and I expect this will lead to good time improvements.
c.)with max strength improvements 30 and 15 times should shoot up.
d.)On the last 4, after the stopwatch was away I was really able to do the runs not for the sake of just running a fast 15, but for setting up a race. This meant I was going much more smoothly letting every stride get longer and faster instead of just pushing to the line. I think each of these would have been PBs had they been timed, even with the fatigue, but it could not have happened until the stopwatch was away.

With these points in mind I am very confident I will reach a 2.25/3.80 15 and 30 time. Right now I am running a 2.30/4.07 which I think should set me up easily for a 6.57 55m since I am doing the last 15m in 1.77 during the 30m so it would make sense that with the increased speed I would easily be able to do the next 25m in 2.5 seconds with training. If I could accomplish that and trained properly I should be able to take that to an 11 flat 100. If I can get down to a 3.80 30m this should set me up for at least a 6.2 55m which should set me up for somewhere in the mid to high 10s. 10.8 FAT is my goal for next season, but I think I could go even faster than that. But I can’t get too carried away since I’m only at 30m so far.

-After this I did 3 sets of (155m ATL bounding, walkback recovery ATL 155m bounding) with 5 minutes rest in between bounding. I’m hoping that this will set me up for good special endurance time.
-Since I didn’t train yesterday and since I’ve been doing a lot of circuits I decided I needed to work on my wind some. I did 600, 400, 200. The fact that I had done a lot of work before this and the fact that I ran them fast (200 was 37s and I think 400 was probably under 80; all were with a minute recovery) made them pretty hard.
-I wanted to do this to kill time until my mom came to pick me up so I could have her count how many ATL bounds it took me to cover the distance since I didn’t want to count and make it a forebrain activity. I didn’t think I was going to be able do more bounds after this, but after 5 minutes of walking I was good to go. I had to wait seven for her to come though. I did another set in the manner described above and both time covered the distance in 22 bounds. I don’t know if this is good or bad.
-This was my first time in a long time training so early; it was around 12:30 when I started. I don’t think this was good or bad.
-I forgot to bring my GO! to the track so I had it about a half hour after the session.
-I must really be in a writing mood today.
NOTE: I have been doing the same stretching as usual since I started putting full microstretching in my journal, but what I was doing was not really full microstretching. I was doing 3 hamstring stretches (usually hamstring against the wall, 3 glute (on both; laying flat on back and holding glute with other leg) stretches, 3 quad stretches (holding both legs while laying flat on stomach), 3 psoas stretches (the microstretch one), 3 back stretches (the microstretch ones), 3 chest stretches (hands held behind back together with chest puffed out), and 1 to 2 inner abductor stretches (microstretch one) for a minute each per day, i.e. not all 3 at one time. I was also doing 3 inner pec stretches for 20 seconds on tempo days. While this has helped me recover better, I don’t think it has imrpoved my usable flexibility by much. The warmup has, but I still think I need more ROM work.
-Later on I did 2*15m wheelbarrows with my dad holding my legs. I would have made it into a session, but they had to go.

Sunday, August 31, 2003
-I was going to do an easier version of the 210100m with 10 pushups and 25 situps in between and no rest workout that Charlie talked about on the old forum by doing 210100m with 8 pushups and 30 bicycles and no rest. After 8 though I thought that I could complete a set of 10 and managed too. I walked 100m and did a set of 5 in the same style, but was unable to do more than that. So I walked 100m and did 8100m with nothing in between. So it looked like 10100m and 5100m with the pushups and bicycles in between and then 8100m just tempo. It was an encouraging workout and I really liked it.

Monday, September 1, 2003
-OFF, rain.

Tuesday, September 2, 2003
-Rain again so I did 2835s + 1435s at 130-140 RPM on level four with 30 seconds in between reps and 45s in between sets on the bike machine at the gym. It was a hard workout and really got a sweat going but I don’t know if it stimulated blood flow or gave me a pump and made me tight. Definitely not as good as tempo and I wouldn’t want to do it the day before speed although I might have to sometimes.

Wednesday, September 3, 2003
-See:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?p=30320
Painful stuff.

Thursday, September 4, 2003
-More rain! I took the day off.

Friday, September 5, 2003
-Oh its was so beautiful out! And its supposed to be like this all weekend! I’m so excited!
-24300m (maybe more like 270-280 since I timed one in 55) with 60 bicycles in between.
-I’m still feeling a lot of soreness in my legs (it didn’t seem so bad at first after the BW squat session but then I got bad DOMS). I was planning, and still am for now, on doing speed tomorrow and special end. Sunday, but I’m not sure if that can happen. I’m doing a lot of extra microstretching on the trouble spots tonight so hopefully that’ll help.

pete · September 7, 2003, 12:05am

Saturday, September 6, 2003
-I did speed on the track today. My fiber was still somewhat depleted from the squats and I could sort of tell during the warmups so I should have just listened to myself, done tempo and waited until tomorrow. But, its hard to do tempo psychologically when you’re expecting speed and just warmed yourself up for speed.
-I did 8*30, all timed. I did the first in 4.19 which would be a tie PB, but I think I false started a bit. But, I also hesitated after I realized I false started so I’m not sure how it would have come out time wise without the FS. Otherwise the times were pretty mediocre, probably averaging low 4.3s not including the last one, when I got the time spike that doesn’t usually come to the ninth or tenth and I think nowadays without depleted muscle might not come to the 11th or 12th. So I still got in some decent times, but if I could do it over I think I would wait until tomorrow. I definitely need to introduce a new stimulus, but I still want to do some more GPP work, including an accumulation phase. I think I might introduce some >7 degree hill runs during the next speed session. With this and special end. hopefully these variations will allow me to make some progress until the MS phase begins, but its not really necessary that they do.

Sunday, September 7, 2003
-In the morning:
4*(75 sledgehammer hits, 150 jump ropes 10s rest 50 for the first two sets and then only 150, 20 pushups, 20 meball situps to my dad sitting about 3 feet away, 15m wheelbarrows). This was done basically continuously, with the rest for doing the wheelbarrow for my dad and walking to things instead of running since this was more of a power circuit then a cardiovascular.
-In the afternoon:
Split 300 with 30s in between each 300. It was in about 40.5-41 even considering the first movement. On a better track I could have done 39, since this was cinder as a compromise to my legs.
-Ice bath for 15 minutes 2 hours after. I finally have the protocols right for this (stretch first, 2 hours later, toes up) and I think those made a world of a difference. Thanks rl.com!

Monday, September 8, 2003
-OFF. Monday’s are tough.

Tuesday, September 9, 2003
-600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100
2:17, 1:53, 1:32, 1:03, 40, not timed.

In between each rep 30 jumping jack and 60 switching feet in front of me and then 45s. These were not harder than usual even with the extra jumps after each set and shorter rest period and were int he usual time which means I’m in even better cardiovascular shape than I was last time I did this. That’s good because I’ve been doing more SE + accel. development and circuits since then.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003
-1610m sprints up a 15m grass hill in spikes.
-415m uphill bounds.

Thursday, September 11, 2003
-I went to the gym today for my first accumulation session. My lower body has faired pretty well fromm the lactic acid BW sessions, but my upper body strength has fallen badly. It went:
3*10 at 185 full squats, really easy. Probably could have done 195 or maybe even 200. I was trying to push back more and use my quads less.
8 reps at 115, 7 reps at 105, and 4 reps at 105 on incline. Ouch!!
9 chinups, 6 chinups, 4 chinups.
-I’ve decided I’m going to start doing more upperbody lactic acid bodyweight work while I do my lower body accumulation phase and then do three weeks of upperbody accumulation at the beginning of my max strength phase followed by 3 weeks of condensed MS following the unloading. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get up to 25-30 consecutive chins and 60 pushups. I’ve been doing the three chins every time I enter my room for abouta week now whcih amounts to about 4-5 times a ay. I have to try to remember more and kick that amount up.

Friday, September 12, 2003
-Very little soreness, none of that really bad quad soreness I usually get after squatting for the first time in a while, I think a big part was that I was trying to squat with my posterior chain more. Some chest soreness and not much back soreness.
-24200 with 10 pushups and 20 seconds in between. It was really easy, I maybe should have done something a bit harder because I know I’m going to take tomorrow off because its supposed to rain. I could only do that many pushups because of the benching and chinning yesterday but maybe I shoudl have done some abs in between.

Saturday, September 13, 2003
-OFF except for a core session that toaled to 1000 units. I was doing woodchoppers with a medicine ball and strained my hammie.

Sunday, September 14, 2003
-400 unit core session in the morning, then…
-Speed. I was a bit nervous about the hammie, but I ended up all right. I bought a new watch and it also does not work and keeps double-clicking instead of stopping or going so I only got some times. For the first three runs I had to stop midway because I was tripping all over myself. What happened was the hills made an imprint on my sprinting and I was running at such a low body angle that I didn’t have the strength to maintain it. This shows that hills can be a very powerful tool for me but that I should wait until after MS.
-I finally got it together for 315. The timing only worked on one and it was a despicable 2.66. I think that was from my body trying to really make sure it didn’t fall. I decided to make the move out to 45m today, so after this I did 345. The timing worked out on the last two and I did a 6.0 something (-.18=5.90) and 6.29 (same thing). I did 2*20m fly-in and 20m technical top speed work and then 3 more 45s, one in 6.3 something, one not timed, and one in 6.1 something with a slight false start partially or completely negated by a hesitation. The 5.90 FAT equiv. is encouraging, I think that in a series of a few fresh runs I could probably get a 5.70 FAT and the next .1 will come easily once I started really practicing top speed work.
-Chins:12,8,5
-Ice bath.

Monday, September 15, 2003
-Weightroom. 310 box squats (I’m doing these at about 2" in below paralell), at 175. These were as hard as the 310 185 full squats, which is interesting. Definitely not an ego lift. I also did depletion pushups and only managed to get 40 although I was hoping for 45 because I did that many last time. I think I have to lay off the upper body for a little and let myself supercompensate. I also did some chins in between sets.
-30 minute GPP circuit when I got home.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003
-5around 340m (I timed one at 1:02) with 50 bicycles and then 30s in between reps. I added a 200 at the end because I was planning on doing 5400, but it ended up being these (it was not at a track).

Wednesday, September 17, 2003
-Instead of the usual warmup I did 4*200m tempo and some accelerations. Then I did:
150 rest about 90s 150 split run in flats (spikes ripped, I hadn’t taped them yet). This felt fast and not too difficult. Unfortuneately the area I was running on was uneven and I almost fell a few times. I need to go over to the cinder track if I want easier on the legs and safe training environment. So I was planning on doing another rep after about 35-40 minutes, but I just waited 10 and did about 160 to play it safe. This went well.

Thursday, September 18, 2003
-Weightroom. 38 at 205 full squats. These were really really easy. I’m doing 38 box squats next, then the 2 lifts at 36 then MS will begin. I don’t anticipate any problems going to 245 and think I could possibly go 255 for 35 in max strength. This would be only 10-20 pounds off what I did as my last MS set before I went out of the weightroom at the beginning of last season, and I’m lighter now too (about 172 these days). I did 30 pushups wait 90s 25 pushups wait 90s 15 pushups. That’s not too bad (this was a purposeful diff. rep scheme, I didn’t fail at 30). I had one or two left in me after the 15 but no more.
Chinups again didn’t go well, but that is because I swing too much. My new plan is to do 3 pullups every time I enter my room. This should not have much of an effect on my muscles and hopefully it will get me better at the movement. I won’t stop and test until after accumulation is done, hopefully then I’ll be at 15-20 and then I’d be okay going into accumulation.

Friday, September 19, 2003
-Tempo, 35100 with 25 jj or 50 switching legs in front of me in between reps and then 20s in between reps, walkback between sets. It was really easy, but monotonous. Nevertheless, I think I’m going to keep doing the 100m tempo reps occasionally.

pete · September 21, 2003, 9:37pm

Saturday, September 21, 2003

-Speed. 1040 yards. I had these timed from first movement so I could compare. The first three I was trying to run too relaxed and smoothly instead of getting violent with the arms (I love that cue so much), I ran them in the 4.8s. After that my best was 4.57 and the average was around 4.65 from a three point start, which I’m not really used to. If I ran my 30m PB I should be running about a 4.27 when you make the conversion to first movement, but I’m okay with this for now. If I had not run the first three slow I might have done a tenth faster on one and as my three point form imroves I mgiht also see improvement.
-250m ATL bounds, five minutes 2*50m ATL bounds. I think these were a little longer than last time when I got 22 bounds because the same marker is not there. The last two were in 22 and 23.

Sunday, September 22, 2003

-Today after doing accumulation LB weights (38 box squat at 200, really really easy, probably could have gone 11-12 reps on last set if not more) I did this on the 15 degree hill outside my house:
8(19 lunges
15 pushups for 5 of the sets then 10 pushups for 3
Running As
Stiff legged bounds)

Then I started doing the 19 uphill lunges, walkback, and another 19. I did 15 sets of these. This was a tough workout, I’m expecting some serious DOMS! Totaled its 541 lunges.

Monday, September 23, 2003
-Meball workout totalling 840 reps. I figure this is 3-4000 ab units, and more of a recovery upper body workout, but less of a recovery lower body workout, but building GF better than tempo.

Tuesday, September 24, 2003
-OFF. DOMS if okay and I’ll be good to go for Wednesday, which is definitely a huge improvement>

Wednesday, September 25, 2003
-Speed on the track (I think that’s where it’ll be at for most of the time now). 5flying 20s with 20m accel, 5prone 30s, and split 300 w/ 75s at 150. The split 300 was very hard because I was going a lot faster than on grass or cinder, but I think I actually maintained speed very well and had no creeping shoulders.

Thursday, Septemer 26, 2003
-Gym. 36 at 225 full squat. Real easy. It would have been tough, but I think I could have gotten 38 at that weight. If I could get up to 315 for 3 singles by the end of MS that would be really nice.
Depletion pushups:46(PR!),17, 14. I probably could have squeezed out two more on the first set and that’s why the last two were higher than the usual 13, 10, but this was still a PR by 4 reps. Very exciting, this is progressing very nicely. I’m still doing the 3 pullups every time I enter my room (during the week only about 3 times a day, during the weekend a lot) and I’m hoping this will pan out to 15-20 when I test.

pete · October 1, 2003, 2:59pm

Friday, September 27, 2003

-Tempo. 24200 with 50 bicycles in between and then 10 seconds after that and a walk back between sets.

Saturday, September 28, 2003

-Speed. 8*45m. Its really weird, my first one was 6.3 but I got progressively faster on every one until I got down to 5.89 on the fifth run (5.71 with the -.18) which is a very exciting PB (I’ve only gone this far once before but my best was 6.0-something).

Sunday, September 29, 2003
-Last accumulation phase session. I meant to do 36 box squats at 215 but I realized after the entire workout that I had I had a 45, 35, 5 on one side and a 45, 25, 5 on the other! It was at least a good core workout
327 pushups. After the last one I had about 1 or two left in me so it was well-planned.
Then I did a light weightroom circuit that I plan on using as a tempo replacement on some days.

pete · October 1, 2003, 6:48pm

I’m beginning with a max strength phase, it will look like this:

Saturday-About 250m short speed work (I’ll have to adjust volume according to what allows me to exert a lot in the weightroom) followed by Max strength weights with deadlifts and bench presses (very CNS heavy)
Sunday-Recovery
Monday-Recovery
Tuesday-About 250m short speed work followed by Max strength weights with squats weighted chins, and weighted dips (CNS and muscularly heavy)
Wednesday-600-900m split runs/special endurance (very muscularly heavy)
Thursday-Recovery
Friday-Recovery

I’m thinking this setup will allow me a lot of freedom on the recovery days to do work capacity work.

Monday, September 30, 2003
-Tempo. 5*400 with 10 lunges and then 45s in between. My coconut oil arrived the other day and I’m already noticing the difference in body comp. Unforutuneatly, I had some about two hours before today’s session and it didn’t sit very well so I wasn’t moving too fast.

Tuesday, September 30, 2003 (This has been a very long day)
-I warmed up and then did:
Set 1:
10 tuck jumps, 2 minutes rest
SL bounds for 10m, 3 minutes rest
3*(25m fly-in and 20-m step over), 5 minutes rest in between reps

Set 2:
10 tuck jumps, 2 minutes rest
SL bounds for 10m, 3 minutes rest
2*(25m fly-in and 20-m step over), 5 minutes rest in between reps

I think what I’m feeling at this practice top speed is good, when I step over it feels like my hips rise and my foot contacts become quick. It would probably just feel completely natural if after the whole run-in.

Wednesday, October 1, 2003
-Circuit mainly using MB:
3*:
Shoulder toss (15/each)
Back toss (15/each)
Hip toss (15/each)
Prone holding MB between legs above ground (Okay, I don’t know the technical term for it ) (20s)
10 lunges w/ medball between head
Back exchange (fake exchange since I was doing it alone, 15)
5 clap pushups
20 prisoner squats
20 vsits
Kneeling OH throws (15)
Medball superman holds (ball in between legs, 15s)
Toe-touchers (15)
Low bicycles (30)
Chair crawls (legs on chair, crawl back and forth, 6)

then 3*:
Shoulder toss (15/each)
Back toss (15/each)
Hip toss (15/each)
Prone holding MB between legs above ground (Okay, I don’t know the technical term for it ) (20s)
10 lunges w/ medball between head
Back exchange (fake exchange since I was doing it alone, 15)
5 clap pushups
20 prisoner squats
Meball superman holds (15s)

It took about 55 minutes total and was done continuously but not running to the next spot to do something.

Thursday + Friday, October 2+3, 2003
-I went down to Goucher so I couldn’t train. Didn’t microstretch the first day and knees especially but all tendons felt like crap on Friday.

Saturday, October 4, 2003
-8*30m and a fifteen somewhere in between w/ 4:30-5:00 in between reps. The fifth was a slight false start but also a slight hesitation. The probably negated each other, but it would have been in 4.25 (4.13) which would have been .06 off PB which would have been nice since it was really cold and side windy. The seventh was clean in 4.32 (4.20) although it felt very slow. The eighth was a bit of a false start and subsequent hesitation at 4.30 (4.18). So, the times are pretty encouraging considering how nasty it was and I think if I test in another 2 weeks or so I might be at 4.00. I did a split run rep of 170/130 w 90s in between. I didn’t get the 170 time, but the 130 was in 17.3 from first movement (17.8). I’m figuring that because I was deteriorating in the last one I probably would have been around 21 for the first. This would be pretty encouraging and make it seem like an all out 300 at 36s would seem possible before I switch to speed endurance since I have a long way to go before that.

pete · October 9, 2003, 2:43pm

Sunday, October 4, 2003

-Max strength weights. Since its hard to do high weight DLs I’m doing accentuated eccentric DLs for the first three weeks in accordance with the guidelines detailed by CT in his Super Beast article. I think this will also help my grip strength catch up with my leg strength because the last time I did DLs I couldn’t hold onto the bar. So I went approximately 65% (205 lbs.) for 12s eccentrics and then explosive concentrics for 3 reps in a set with 30s in between reps and 4 minutes in between reps for 3 sets.
Next I did 3*10 BP at 115 which is exciting and shows that the depletion pushups really helped. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get up to 185 for a single by the end of the cycle.
-I followed this with a weights circuit (mostly light rep complex exercises) that lasted about 35 minutes with 30s between exercises. With these circuits I’m trying to get at least the equivalent of 2000 ab units (to include tempo as well as a post tempo core workout).

Monday, October 5, 2003
-I did a weights circuit in the morning that lasted about 50 minutes. It had a lot of repetion in it, I think in total I did about 50 sets. Lots of abs.
-In the afternoon I did ext. tempo for 5*300 with backwards skipping and backwards lateral jumps in between and then 30s rest, then a 300m walk and 2 more reps in similar fashion. Although I have cut back on the tempo I’m still breezing through it pretty easily.
-I’ve been having 4 tablespoons equivalent of WFN coconut oil/milk which I think has been helping me stay healthy with increased volume. I’m now up to a whopping 177, the highest since I was fat, but my body comp is improving and I seem to be maintaining my speed (I was 177 on Saturday as well). This is exciting because when I do maintenance after this MS phase after I’ve utilized it for some strength gains I should make some nice gains.

Tuesday, October 6, 2003
-6220m with a walk back in between reps and 5:30-6 minutes in between sets from a prone start. They felt good. I went to the gym afterwards and did 34 @ 275 full squats. These were hard, but this was also very heavy for me. I just managed to complete rep four on the last two sets. Then I mixed up sets of 38 pullups (last two sets I only had my mouth above the bar, I have not seen great progress from the 3 every time I enter room program), accentuated eccentric (12s) BP singles at approximately 65% (120) for 33 and 38 dips w/ 10 pounds attached which were easy.

Wednesday, October 7, 2003
-180/120 split, 10 minutes, 120/80 split, 8 minutes, 100, 8 minutes, 100, 8 minutes, 100 all at approximate 300m pace (timing not available). Today and yesterday were really nice weather-wise. Its holding up for now, but I think these are the last weeks.
-Ice bath for 15 minutes 2 hours afterwards. I’ve been having a recovery drink of 2 ounces honey and about 40g whey protein from proteinfactory for a while since my GO! ran out.

Thursday, October 8, 2003
-I was going to do 3*“Waterloo” by Pfaff with my own rep schemes but after the first set I found I had an incredibly fatigued core and could not go anymore. I did 7*100 reps jump rope (switching legs instead of regular jump roping) (probably around 45s on) w/ 30s off reps in between to complete the workout.

Friday, October 9, 2003
-Tempo:42200m.

Saturday, October 10, 2003
-6*45m. I got 5.88 (5.70) on the 2nd but found out what I measured was four inches short, so I’ll say it was a PB tie (PB: 5.89). It was unusual that I would get a PB on the second but there was a semi-professional football player running on the track and I was racing him so I think my competitiveness kicked in. It was a bad start though because he kept jumping the “GO” so my dad compensated for him by doing unusually fast timing. If you’ll recall last PB I stumbled so I think I’m capable of a 5.65 equivalent right now, I just haven’t done it yet. I was 176 this morning so once I add some strength and just start concentrating on sprinting after the MS phase I should be flying. The rest of the times were mediocre.

Sunday, October 11, 2003
-Accentuated eccentric deadlifts with 240 lbs. for 32 (8s eccentric). I managed it, but grip was tough by the end. Legs and back were doing fine. I did 8130 BP. I meant to do 125 but accidentally loaded 10 lbs. on one side and 5 on the other. This was a pleasant surpise though, 36135 will be easy and that should set me up for 185 by the end of teh cycle.
-I followed this with a 40 minutes weight circuit (=about 40 sets).

pete · October 16, 2003, 5:27pm

Monday, October 13, 2003
-OFF

Tuesday, October 14, 2003
-Complex:
24 hurdle hops w/ walkback then 2 minutes rest
10m * SL bounds as explosively as possible then 5 minutes rest
3fly-in 20, breathe out and top speed mechanics for 20 w/ 5 minutes in between reps

then

24 hurdle hops w/ walkback then 2 minutes rest
10m * SL bounds as explosively as possible then 5 minutes rest
2fly-in 20, breathe out and top speed mechanics for 20 w/ 5 minutes in between reps

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

310 full squats at around 55% 1RM
36 BW chins

310 front squats @ around 50% 1RM
38 BW dips

310 pushpress @ around 55% 1RM
320 BW hypers

36 one handed military press w/ a weight to make it fairly hard
312 hanging leg raises
3*6 handclap pushups

310 rows w/ a weight to make it fairly hard
320 side twists w/ 20 lbs.

210 hanging leg raises
310 stepups w/ a weight to make it fairly hard
2*20 side to side hypers

The exercises clumped together in groups are supersetted. Rest periods are 30s during every next set of the group and two minutes moving onto the next group of exercises.

Thursday, October 16, 2003
-Field circuit. I split it up so it was 20 minutes of non-stop exercises besides walking to the next exercise, 3 minutes rest and then 25 minutes straight.

Friday, October 17, 2003
-Ext. tempo in really nasty weather. Wind and muscles feel fine but do tot the weather I felt like I was slogging along a bit. Anyway it was 23300 with 45s in between reps and a 200m walk in between reps.

Saturday, October 18, 2003
-Speed in the morning w/ a PB! 4.15 (4.03) 30m. .04 is a pretty big improvement over this distance. I also had a 4.00 (3.85) but I had a pretty big false start and I didn’t really hesitate like I usually do. Still that might have been a PB if I had started correctly. The session all in all was:
415m and 530m. I’m starting to hit the good times earlier for some reason now and then starting to fall off a bit earlier. At least this is what I thought when on the 2nd to last rep (last two were 30s) I did a 4.52 (4.40), but then I got a 4.42 (4.30) which is pretty decent after that so I could have probably could have gone up to 300m in this range.
-I decided to do gym today instead of post-workout SE1 because I was trying to hold out for my spikes to arrive (the old ones are really messed up, I could get away with the short speed but the SE would have ripped them apart, they’ve been ductaped twice already). They still haven’t arrived yet so I’ll have to do it in flats tomorrow anyway.

At the gym I did the last of the accentuated eccentric deadlifts, lowering for 4s and then pulling 270 for 31. I still felt very explosive on the DLs which makes me confident. The goal is 315 for a single at the end of the phase.
Next I did 36 on the BP w/ 140. It was pretty easy, on teh last set I probably had at least 3 still left in me. That’s coming along nicely.
Last I did 3*6 at 130 on the lat pulldown machine, which probably means different things on different machines.
-Then I did a 40 minute light gym circuit.

pete · October 22, 2003, 10:28pm

Sunday, October 19, 2003
-Split runs 190/110 w/ about 70s in between. These felt good. I gave myself ten minutes and did a 190 which I tried to time myself. I got 26.18 but it was really more like 25.6 because of messing around with the watch. Based on where I started majorly fatiguing this one compared to the other one (around 100m compared to 160m) I am guessing the first one was in around 24.0. So my goal for 200m in winter, although I won’t be specifically training for it, will be high 23s. I am going to give myself more rest in the future.

(start unloading week)

Monday, October 20, 2003
-OFF

Tuesday, October 21, 2003
-Hills today, only about 7 degrees (this was on grass). I was doing around 15m from prone for sets of three with a walk back in between reps and about 5 minutes in between sets. I did 5 sets in total. This is purposeful during the unloading max strength phase, as I will hopefully be able to apply the lower angles to the track this weekend with my newfound strength. Volume actually wasn’t that low for 15m reps.
-Weights afterward and I really cut back volume and a tad bit of intensity because of the above. I just did 3 reps at 285 full squats (really easy), 5 reps BP at 150 (not so easy, maybe could have gotten seven, but I’m confident I’ll be able to do this at 3*5 next week), and eight pull-ups.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003
-I did my higher intensity weights circuit today. I did not cut this back at all and actually upped the intensity some, with about the same volume but with more compound exercises and in more circuit fashion. I actually had to use some beast mode imagery in parts. I don’t think this will be much of a problem though.

Thursday, October 23, 2003
-Some soreness today. I took the day off and went to the sauna. I was in for 15 minutes with a five minute break with a little showering and then in for another seven.

Friday, October 24, 2003
-Extensive tempo for 5*400.

Saturday, October 25, 2003
-5*45m and one 25m run in flying 20 in the middle. I also did a few one legged jumps from standing facing a hurdle and over onto a high jump mat with no runup (motivated by the Ato video) interspered in. I think I was probably at around 36" judging by what Ato said (he said he gets up to around waist level which is 42" when he’s really feeling good), this was about 4" from my wait but he’s 6’2" and I’m 5’11". It was the third from the lowest level which I think is 2nd from highest. I was clearing them pretty well with my right foot (I did left foot first at 2nd to lowest then moved up for right and then didn’t come back) but right is the foot I go off when jumping. Next time I do these I could maybe get up to the highest notch.
I was sort of expecting a PB in 45s today with it being unloading and having my new shoes. However I haven’t done work past acceleration for a bit and it showed. The 30s were incredible, I probably went 4.22 (4.10) on the splits but the transition and top speed were a bit tough. When I started concentrating on breathing out I did run a fairly good one int the accel and top end sections that was .05 from PB but I was losing majorly on the transition and the top end wasn’t great. I’m going to do sprint float sprints on Tuesday. Still not a bad session since the accels felt so great and I felt like I could make so much improvement while running .05 from PB.

Sunday, October 26, 2003
-Low volume weights. 1DL @ 275. Felt really easy but if I go by 101 next Sunday it might start to get tougher. I did depletion pushups in the morning which were actually a great surprise as I did 227 and then 130 to fail on 31 on the last set with 2 minutes in between reps. This means I actually have increased muscular endurance since leaving the GPP and depletion reps. At the gym I did 17, 14, 10 dips with 3 minutes rest which makes me think I could maybe get 25 straight if I hadn’t done the pushups in the morning. So be it through delayed supercomp or that my training has been conducive to maintenance and a bit more I feel very primed for some really nice bench/weighted dip gains over these next 3 weeks. I followed with 3*10 lat pulldowns at 100 at a medium, controlled pace.
-I followed with a 40 minute weights circuit (mostly ends up being upper body and core, lots of hypers)

pete · October 29, 2003, 9:13pm

NOTE: I was rereading my training journal and have decided I should make it tighter looking. I am going to do a summary of every week when I am done with it and title all the weeks.
Summary:Week 5 of 3-1-3 MS Phase.
M-OFF
T-top speed work followed by MS weights.
W-OFF
Th-Top speed work
F-MS weights
Sa-Hills as an ext. tempo replacement
Su-Heavy but higher reps weight circuit.

Monday, October 26, 2003
-OFF

Tuesday, October 27, 2003
-Speed. 210m stiff legged bounds and then 4sprint-float-sprints of 25m-20m-20m. Thse felt really good, at around 18m on the last section each time I started feeling a little bit like I was losing form, but this should not effect my 55 so it’s okay for now anyway.
Weights afterward. I was going to try 10*2 @ 300 full squats. The first 2 sets were hard but okay, but on the third one I didn’t concentrate hard enough on teh descent and got hit by the momentum and the bar caught on the racks. At this point it was unmovable so I had the option of unloading to 135, putting it back and loading again or choosing to do some heavy powercleans. I chose the latter. I went for 155 and ended updoing a series of mixed clean pulls and racked power cleans because I missed some and caught others. I think part of it is that now that I am going heavier if I do a draining nervous sytem sprint workout prior to the weight session it does not go as well. I think I will have to try to structure it so that I do accel development on Tuesdays at least most of the time.

Wednesday, October 28, 2003
-The last couple of days I’ve been getting to sleep at 10:20-10:25 instead of the usual 10:05. This seems to have made a big difference. Instead of the gym today I just tok a nap and did a full session of microstretching. I’ll do gym tomorrow and this shouldn’t mess up the schedule any.

Thursday, October 29, 2003
-SL hops and hurdle hops before the session and then 5*(30m acclerate in and 20m “fly”). Regular rest periods (5 minutes or so).

Friday, October 30, 2003
-101 @ 275 DLs with three minutes rest in between. 34 @ 165 BP (which was hard but exciting when completed. I did 7 pullups (before I was doing partials, now I’m really making sure I go all the way) on the first set, the last two my head wasn’t completely over the bar. I did three sets in total and they declined as they went on. I figure I could get 7 or 8 full on a good day because DLs do take a fair amount of the back.

Saturday, October 31, 2003
-24150-200m (not sure) up a very very steep grass hill. This was just meant to be an ext. tempo session but the next day my glutes were a little sore because I’m not used to hills.

Sunday, November 1, 2003
-I went to the gym to do heavy circuit day. It went like:

38195 full sq.
“Depletion” dips (18, 15, 11)
310135 front squats (for 10 reps its a great posture exercise)
These were done just walking to the next exercise and with a two minute rest when back to the top.

3*10 MPs @ 50% (65 lbs.) in approximately 10s each

3*15 hypers with 15 lbs.

3* 20 hangling leg raises

Later on when I got home I did 100 ab wheels.

NOTE to self: 3 weeks since photo.